Archive for January, 2011

A friend of mine asked me about felting yesterday. She made a bag to hang on her spinning wheel. Since I haven’t taken up spinning, I can’t really picture where it goes. But it needed felting so I thought I would include what I said here.

‘I don’t bother with a pillowcase. I’ve never put a towel in either. I like man jeans. You know, the heavy kind that take forever to dry. Luckily, that’s what Win and Doug wear. Tennis shoes are good, but your machine might not like them, especially if they are 13’s. Speaking of machines, I hope you don’t have a front loader. If you do, you’re screwed. Anyway, I reset my machine twice for my bags for a total of about 40 minutes agitation. I have had some things take as little as ten minutes so you’ve got to check it. I use hot water and any detergent. I also keep a heavy stick (like a plunger) and a mixing bowl handy. When it’s the way I want it, I let the washer finish. You may have to steam it some to reshape it. I look around for something to put it on to dry–a vase, jar, glass head. You can also stuff it with plastic bags to help keep its shape. Have I said enough? Have I said too much? Oh! And there’s always YouTube.’

My girl friend makes very nice yarn. It knits up beautifully and is very easy on your hands. I made her a sweater with her yarn and she made me a very pretty triangular shawl that she wove. Right now, it’s hanging over the door to keep the cats off it. It is soft enough to wear on bare skin. I even like the fuzzy fringe–which Rue especially likes.

Will I ever take up spinning? I really don’t think so. Do you have any idea how much yarn I have? Why do you think I’ve making all these hats? And do you know what spinning leads to? Dyeing! Weaving! I make myself crazy enough with the knitting and the sewing. I’d need another house. Wait a minute. I have another house. But, it’s two hours away and I don’t like living there. But my son is happy there.

I need to get some sewing done. We had tossed a bunch of knitted items on my Sapphire while we were trying to organize the yarn. I tried to put some things in a storage box, but Flo decided that it was a great place to nap. Maybe tomorrow.

I came up with another idea for a hat last night using Colinette Point Five yarn. I need to get the last hat written. Pattern writing takes a lot of time and I don’t like having to explain everything little thing. I feel like I’m saying the same thing over and over.

Maybe over the summer I’ll make hats and try selling them on Etsy in the Fall. I could make matching scaves and/or mittens. I also have other things that were more fun to make than wear. Hmm….

Yeah. Right. Like that’s going to happen. I spent half an hour just getting ready to go out. We were only out for twenty minutes. And I never did bother to take off my long johns. It was twenty-four degrees when we went out and it was still the same temperature several hours later. Ugh.

The geese were still sleeping when we got back. I don’t know what that white one is doing there. And that ice never went away. We didn’t make it down to the pier this morning. I really didn’t care.

I needed to wind some yarn for my next project. I got some work done and managed to entertain the cats all at the same time. Yeah. I’ve got a dorky afghan on my sofa. Doesn’t everyone?

I have almost finished my next hat. I should have it completed by tomorrow. The pattern is finished, but it needs to be proofread.

The day after spending over $300 at BJ’s, the washer died. And, of course, it had a load of wet clothes in it. So off we go. I have very particular needs when it comes to washing machines. Out of thirty models, I narrowed my desires down to four in two minutes. I spent a minute getting to two and another getting it down to one model. I looked around for a salesperson or whatever they are called. He was still with the same couple. Jeez. Don’t these people know what they need? Don’t they know what they want? What is taking them so long? What is so hard about picking a washer? The man looked like a logger, yet he was the one looking. The mousey looking woman with him was just standing there. Sometimes I forget that these type of people still exist. I started rolling my eyes and shaking my head. The salesperson excused himself and came over to me. I picked his brain for a minute to make certain that the washer truly did everything that I wanted it to do. The sale was made. Next up. Delivery. There were none in the warehouse so it wouldn’t be deliverable until the 23rd. So we took the floor model. I got ten percent off. And delivery was the next morning. We were in and out in fifteen minutes. Then we went over to Wal-Mart and spent another $100.

Here’s Sweetums with his kitten. Aren’t they adorable?

I took the ribbing off my tam and made it a little more snug so it would sit better. I think I am finally satisfied. I’ll write it up before I forget what I did. I also need to write patterns for two more hats so look for some new pages.

Once again, I am having a problem with the pattern. I am beginning to wonder if these patterns were tried out or even proofread by a knowledgeable knitter before going to press. It is virtuously impossible to follow the instructions and have the finished product look like the photograph. It was impossible to come anywhere near the dimensions no matter what needle or yarn I used. And, believe me, I tried. I’ll have to think long and hard before trying another pattern in this book.

The fit is good. It goes with my Stars sweater and my Eeyore jacket. What more do I want. Oh yeah. I love worms.

I started another hat. This one is orange. I actually own an orange coat. I am using the Sideways Grande Hat from Boutique Knits. My yarn seems to be bulkier than what they used. I’ve had to make a few changes. I should be finished in another day or two.

I slipped and fell sometime last winter. I naturally put my hands out to break my fall and this is what happens. I was so pissed, I stuck them in a drawer and tried to forget about them. But, you know what? They kept calling me. I tried to ignore it. I told them that I didn’t like the matching hat anyway. They reminded me that I liked the scarf. Things were quiet for a long time. Then, while going through my yarn, I found leftover yarn. It’s not much, but enough to fix it. And it’s not that I can’t fix it. I just don’t wanna. And, you know, those gloves are hollering louder than ever. Shut up! I’ve got other things to do!

We are not talking about the tam. No picture. It is soooo not finished. I was almost finished. I was going to accept it like it was. No I wasn’t. I unravelled it down to the decreases. Maybe I’ll make it to the end. I really need to do something else.

I had to do it. I kept thinking about all that yarn in those cardboard boxes that I couldn’t see. I knew there was really good stuff in there. But I didn’t know what was where. I wound up filling fifteen clear containers. Sweetums was very helpful and even repositioned some of the shelves to efficiently accommodate the containers. I kept out yarn for four planned sweaters for 2011. The job took about three days. I was surprised at the amount of Colinette I had. Colinette anyone? I could make you such a deal!

I still need to organize the rolling carts. That’s where I plan to put all the smaller hanks and skeins. There are too many little drawers and not enough big ones. One section of twelve small drawers has become my new needle case.

I spent yesterday organizing my needles. When we were pulling out yarn, Sweetums found the rest of them. I knew I had more. I just didn’t know where. I dumped all of them onto the dining room table and arranged them according to size. First I did the circulars and then the double points. I managed to get most into their original plastic sleeves. I only had a few of each left over. Starting with the largest size, I looked at each one and determined which were worth keeping. I got rid of all the Pony Pearl(poor join, stiff wire, came apart) and most of the Susan Bates(kept the 11″ ones). I even have some Addi Turbo in there. I also added all my old metal double-pointed needles. I’m thinking about adding the large sizes since I haven’t used them in years. But. You never know.

I finally finished the cloche. I had to add the contrast band and flower. It didn’t look right without them. It fits well, coming down over my ears for those cold windy walks along the river. And I have almost finished the tam. Here, again, I had it half made and took it apart. I didn’t like the band. I should finish it tonight and might have a picture tomorrow, if I blog. Next up: an orange hat. But, wait a minute, I still have some of this yarn left. Maybe I’ll make a pair of mittens, too.

I would really like to finish the Side Slip Cloche. Really I would. Last night I ripped out the I-cord and started another. This morning I looked at what I had done and ripped it out again. I had to take Rue Boy to the vet so I took my knitting and decided to try something different. The office was pretty filled so I knew that I would have time to experiment. I think I came up with something useful and, hopefully, I will finish it tonight. I might even be able to start on the tam. Don’t hold your breath. ‘Cause I sure ain’t.

In case you’re wondering, Rue is a perfect little specimen of kittenness. He is working on turning into a cat and is twice as big as when I got him.

I started the scarf the same as the brim on size 9 so it would be looser. When it was long enough to fit around my neck, I joined another ball of yellow and needle and worked each stitch twice, putting one stitch on each needle. I then worked the pattern for about thee inches. It needs to be as long as it is wide. When it was long enough, I knit or purled two together to return to sixteen stitches. I reversed the ruffles by increasing rather than decreasing. It didn’t take long at all and I was finished in a few hours. I like these ascot type scarves, especially when I’m out walking. If I get too warm, they fit nicely in my pocket.

I have figured out what is wrong with the cloche. It looked like a big yellow blob on my head. I like the shape of it. It fits snuggly around my head and covers my ears. I tried a big flower. Cute, but no cigar. Finally, I realized that I needed to add a contrasting band. So I’m currently knitting an attached I-cord around the top of the brim. It should be finished tonight. I’m also thinking about making a tam for not so cold weather.

Trying to get a picture of Rue Boy when he is playing is very difficult. His favorite game is chase and he wears the girls out, especially Olive. She usually takes her naps in the basement where Rue can’t find her.